An overview of what appears to be the complete specifications for Microsoft's much anticipated next generation Xbox console has leaked by way of website vgleaks.com. The site does not disclose its sources for the data, however, many of the details have reportedly been corroborated by sources of Richard Leadbetter, editor of the more reputable Digital Foundry.

Here's the full list, which according to DF "suggests that the data is at most nine months old: factoring in how long it takes to create a console, the chances are that there will not be many changes implemented since then"

Each module of four CPU cores has a 2 MB L2 cache resulting in a total of 4 MB of L2 cache

each core has one fully independent hardware thread with no shared execution resources

each hardware thread can issue two instructions per clock

Graphics Core:

custom D3D11.1 class 800-MHz graphics processor

12 shader cores providing a total of 768 threads

Each thread can perform one scalar multiplication and addition operation (MADD) per clock cycle

At peak performance, the GPU can effectively issue 1.2 trillion floating-point operations per second

High-fidelity Natural User Interface (NUI) sensor is always present

Storage and Memory:

8GB of DDR3 RAM (68GB/s bandwidth)

32MB of fast embedded SRAM (ESRAM) (102GB/s)

From the GPU's perspective the bandwidths of system memory and ESRAM are parallel providing combined peak bandwidth of 170GB/sec.

Hard drive is always present

50GB 6x Blu-ray drive

Networking:

Gigabit Ethernet

WiFi and WiFi Direct

Hardware Accelerators:

Move engines

Image, video, and audio codecs

Kinect multichannel echo cancellation (MEC) hardware

Cryptography engines for encryption and decryption, and hashing

Digital Foundary also notes that the listed Sata 2.0 HDD as standard is expected to be 500GB minimum, and points out that the console seemingly has both HDMI output, and input, opening it up to an array of video recording applications.

A specific port for Kinect connectivity also indicates that the motion controller sensor will not be built into the console, but also not be hampered by the USB bus as with the Xbox 360.

The next generation Xbox, currently codenamed Durango, is rumoured to be revealed by Microsoft in the coming months, ahead of a wider showing at the E3 2013 expo in June, in preparation for a holiday season 2013 launch.

MS wouldn't allow something like XBMC on it, but if it was to get hacked for homebrew support it would at least be easier for XBMC devs to port to, as it's x86 architecture, unlike the x360.

Wouldn't hold your breath though. It took years for the last gen to get proper homebrew hacks, and they've likely learned even more lessons about platform security since then. There's no shortage of other cheap devices that can run XBMC now anyway.

There's no shortage of other cheap devices that can run XBMC now anyway.

Oh I know this but ATM I have HTPC running Atom processor and blu-ray player running Windows 7. Its getting a little slow and keen on getting all in one console and media centre especially now it plays Blu-Rays :)

MS wouldn't allow something like XBMC on it, but if it was to get hacked for homebrew support it would at least be easier for XBMC devs to port to, as it's x86 architecture, unlike the x360.

I don't the next Xbox is going to be hacked for a very, very long time. I expect them to have multiple redundant anti-piracy systems in place, they did this a little with the xbox360, and it was the DVD drives that were the weak point. So this time around it will be very interesting. Of course there is always the possibility a major stuff up which allows full system access very quickly.

I'm just interested in seeing if this tech catch up will help stimulate better title ports to PC. Be nice to see more games like Far Cry 3 or Batman: Arkham City utilising all features that a PC offers.

It doesn't. It's already fallen behind the current gen GPU/CPUs and it's not even out yet.

Yes but haven't consoles always been behind the current spec PCs? They always perform well though because they have less overhead and developers can wring more performance out because they share the same hardware.

It's already fallen behind the current gen GPU/CPUs and it's not even out yet.

And you're basing that on .... ? I wasn't aware you had all the details and benchmark information on the custom DX11 GPU they're using. Clock speed isn't everything, I thought people had learned that lesson by now, but I guess not.

Of course, a high end PC that costs a few thousand dollars is probably always going to be better than it, but thats not really the average, and it also costs a lot more than this will.

I think that it's more of a programming problem than a question of raw hardware power these days. It's better than my desktop, but looking at umart, it looks to not be on par with their most expensive $1250 gaming system.

With how technology moves in this day and age it will more than likely be outdated, but that isn't to say it can't perform well. As fpot said, the overhead on a console is far less, and developers can dedicate more to games. Just have a look at what we are getting at the end of a nearly eight year console cycle.

Sounds like loading times should be just as bad. Still sounds like they're using ancient spinning disk and the price difference between some low end 250gb version versus a 500gb version will probably be priced at like $200 dollars difference, which could only ever be in-line with a 240gb SSD @ $200, versus a 480gb SSD @ $400. (Except of course if it was SSD it really would drop loading times).

Load times are another thing where (with black magic) programmer implementation is more important than hardware. I learned this after playing the Assassin's Creed games, which somehow load those mega cities in a few second on my old machine with that running around minigame active to boot...

At least the ports wont be holding PC back so much anymore. Doubt ill ever buy a console ever again because no doubt these consoles will show there age even quicker then the last gen did. Ill stick to my expensive and always upgrading PC

on another note its good to see the "norm" getting better hardware finally after waiting 8 years *Shakes head*

The most promising thing for us PC gamers is the BD ROM drive. Finally we can ditch the DVD format and enjoy HD textures straight off the disc!

These specs destroy the Wii U and while the clock speed is lower than my 5 year old Q6600, and similar L2 cache, not having to run a full Windows kernel and optimised for gaming will mean this thing will blitz my current PC!